Late night jitters
by Iluvbeyblade
Summary: Insomnia, coffee and a late night conversation. What do these things lead to? KaiHilary Oneshot.


Okay, this is just a random idea I had. It wasn't supposed to be any longer than about 1500 words, but it's now about 2700, so that went wrong. Anyway,I just remembered last night that despite professing to like Kai/Hilary,I have only written one thing on the pairing! (Check my profile if you want to look at it. It's better than this, very angsty, and over 22000 words long...phew...) So, hope you enjoy this little oneshot!

Disclaimer: Do not own Beyblade.

This is set just after they come back from being stuck on the island with Gideon and the other load of mad people. - series 2.

* * *

Hilary yawned and rolled over in bed. It was useless. She couldn't sleep. She wanted to be over at Tyson's, chatting to Gramps and bad-mouthing Tyson, who would be in hospital for a while yet, and talking to the three boys that apparently made up Tyson's old beyblading team.

She had only known the boys for a week or so, and her first impressions were favourable. Most of them.

Max seemed nice enough. Younger than any of them except Kenny, he was cheeky and optimistic, a mixture of little brother and best friend to the other boys. He had a typical schoolboy sense of humour that had Tyson and Kenny rolling on the floor within a few words, and even she hadn't been able to suppress a giggle on occasions. One problem that she was having real trouble with was his dress sense. It was just…too _bright. _It was like he'd chosen clothes specifically to warn traffic of his whereabouts in the dead of night. She giggled softly, and then stopped, feeling slightly guilty. It wasn't that bad, really. And Max was too nice to make fun of. Even on her own.

Ray was older than most of them, and appeared to be the level headed one. He was friendly and talkative, with a dry and sometimes very rude sense of humour. From what she had seen, he could be very protective of the younger boys, rather older-brotherish, but definitely wasn't above playing around when the opportunity called. He was taller than her by quite a bit, lean and wiry and with athletic skills to die for. His hair was ridiculously long, really _ridiculously_ long, but it never seemed to trouble him. The one time that she had suggested maybe giving it a bit of a trim, he had given her a truly nasty look and ignored her for a good ten, fifteen minutes.

That had been a bit of a shock, as he had always been unfailingly polite to her before. When Tyson had ripped up her training schedule and thoroughly upset her, it had been Ray that had said the magic word: "please". Afterwards, Kenny and Max had taken her aside and quietly explained that Ray's hair was a no-go area.

She accepted that, and had apologised to Ray, who had been quite pleased and surprised that somebody was actually saying sorry to him. He was the one who was always apologising without being asked, the others' manners were atrocious. Even Kenny seemed to forget his please and thank yous when he was hanging around with them.

Ho hum. Kai. Where to begin? Well, he was the oldest, and the tallest, for a start. Her first impression, looking at a photo of him, had been "cute", the second, after seeing him, "rude". Still cute, but rude with it. He was taciturn, very much so, and independent to an almost ludicrous extent. His dress sense was…strange, to say the least. A lot of tight, purple items, along with those arm guards that practically doubled as weapons. And let's not forget those weird triangles on his cheeks. His grey eyes were walls, blank, with nothing of the life and humour so often seen sparkling in the younger boys' eyes. The most emotion he would ever show in one go was a twisted kind of smile.

Once, just the once, when they were all bored to tears by Tyson's incessant rambling, he had told a joke. It had been so rude that only Ray and Tyson had understood it (yes, unfortunately, Tyson had a working knowledge of most obscenities) and they had burst out in fits of uncontrollable laughter and refused to explain either the joke or the answer. Then, the smile had widened slightly, taken on a satisfied appearance as he and Ray had exchanged unfathomable looks.

He treated Tyson as a necessary annoyance, which Tyson returned by being jokingly offensive and deliberately, repeatedly infuriating him. Oh yes, that was one of the few emotions that she had seen blaze clearly in those pearl-grey eyes. Anger, pure and simple. The other…think about that later, Hilary.

Ray seemed to be the closest thing he had to a best friend, and the two of them could often be seen talking to one another up on the roof of the dojo. It was Ray that would generally report back to them early on in the day whether Kai was going to be approachable today. One memorable time a few days ago, his cheek had been swollen and red, and words thankfully hadn't been necessary.

From what she could see, Kai considered Max very much a little brother, only worth paying attention to occasions and to be disdained the rest of the time. Max didn't seem to mind either way, he gaily tried to involve Kai in all of their conversations and considered it a triumph if Kai managed a word in response.

Kenny was pretty much ignored by the team leader. Actually, she couldn't recall a time when Kai had spoken directly to him. To Dizzi, yes, on occasions, but never, ever Kenny. The little computer genius seemed resigned to this, and barely ever tried to talk to Kai either. Ah well, such is life!

Now then…back to her earlier thought; the only other emotion she had ever seen in Kai's eyes. It had occurred only a few days ago, when they had all been stuck on that little island.

While Max, Tyson and Ray had gone to battle the creeps, Tyson with her_ express _orders to be careful with his ankle, (which he had disobeyed, big surprise there) Kenny and her had decided to go and find the radio tower, and a way of telling everyone where they were. Kai had chosen to come with them, saying that they would need protection. As it turned out, he hadn't missed battling after all. She shuddered at the memory of that red-haired freak that had tried to steal Kai's beautiful Dranzer. Kai had defeated him without even needing to reveal the phoenix, although it had looked hard not to. She wondered if it had hurt, keeping it in like that…

After that, or it could been before, she couldn't really remember, there had been that landslide. As if it hadn't already been scary enough, shuffling along a tiny ledge too high up to look down without freezing… Then, the rocks had started to roll down. She had screamed, she remembered that, then…

Then Kai had pushed her into the cliff-side so hard that she had hurt her back and stood over her until the fall of rocks ceased. Kenny had crept under the new shelter as well, but as usual, Kai had completely ignored him. When the last rumble of rocks had faded away, he had spoken, asked "Are you all right?" in an oddly concerned tone of voice. She had looked up and been unable to prevent a blush creeping across her cheeks at the unshielded worry in those large grey eyes. Worry for _her_. They had carried on, and he had taken her hand to help her climb, making it some kind of a miracle that her cheeks stayed pale.

It was only after they'd got Tyson to the hospital and he'd turned his back on her to talk to Ray that she had seen the rips in his top, heck, in his _skin_, and the blood that had dried around the edges. She had tried to make him get them cleaned, but he had simply given her a slightly amused look and refused. Stubborn jerk.

She sat up, unable to stay in bed a moment longer. Getting out of bed, she changed quickly into yesterday's clothes, looking warily around and trying to be as silent as possible. If either of her parents found out what she was doing, she'd be grounded for a _very_ long time. They had already expressed their doubts about her new friends. Creeping out at three o' clock in the morning to meet them was _not _the best thing she could do. Tiptoeing down the stairs, she took the house key from its hook and unlocked the front door, shutting it quietly behind her.

* * *

As she walked quickly, shivering in the night time cold, she began to have second thoughts. Probably, none of them would be awake, and she'd have walked all the way for nothing. Still, she carried on, more out of sheer stubbornness than anything else. 

Reaching the dojo, she was surprised to find not just one, but two lights on. Slipping silently through the gate, she headed towards the nearest light.

"Oh…um…hi, Kai!" she stammered, taken aback. Kai inclined his head in greeting. He was sitting at the kitchen table fully dressed, with a half-full cup of what looked and smelt like black coffee. "Um…why are you still up?"

"Ray's throwing up. I thought I'd better stay down here just in case."

"Oh, poor Ray!" Hilary exclaimed. "Where is he?"

"Bathroom." Hilary turned on her heel and hurried to the bathroom.

She poked her head timidly round the door.

"Ray?" she asked uncertainly. "Are you okay?" Ray turned to her and smiled weakly, his face pale and shining with sweat.

"I've been better. What on earth are you doing here, Hil?" Hilary shrugged self-consciously.

"Couldn't sleep." she answered. Ray frowned, clearly wanting a better explanation. Luckily for her, just at that second, he gagged again and promptly swung back to the toilet bowl. Having vomited, he slumped, eyes closed, to one side, panting. Hilary ran over and hugged his shaking frame comfortingly. Ray's arms closed around her for a few seconds, than he pushed her away.

"You don't want to catch this." he chided, making shooing movements with his hands. "Off you go." Hilary mock-pouted.

"Fine, I know when I'm not wanted!" she stated, pretending to be outraged. Ray laughed feebly, fiddling with his hair where it was stuck to his forehead with perspiration.

"Good." With a final, affronted sniff, Hilary left, hands planted firmly on her hips.

* * *

She sat down in the chair opposite Kai's and leaned back on it casually. 

"Kai, get me a drink, would you?" she asked, looking over to where the sixteen year-old was waiting patiently for the kettle to boil. He grunted. "Is that a yes?"

"What do you want?"

"A drink." She giggled at the irritated look on his face. "Sorry. Just water, please." He nodded curtly and went back to staring at the kettle. Two minutes later, the kettle came to the boil nosily and he busied himself making his next cup of coffee.

"How's Ray?" he asked, a faint note of concern in his tone.

"Vomiting." Hilary answered flippantly. She giggled again, then sobered up slightly. "He's not exactly in brilliant shape, let's put it that way. Does he know you're up?" Kai nodded.

"I'm always up when one of them is ill." he muttered, almost offhandedly, taking a gulp of coffee and grimacing from the heat.

"Always overdosing on caffeine too?" Hilary teased. Kai looked sharply at her, then shrugged and smiled. Only a small smile, the barest tilting of his lips, but it was a smile. He sat down, clasping the mug of coffee in both hands.

"Why are you here?" he asked abruptly.

"I - well…couldn't sleep - just…" She trailed off, blushing with embarrassment.

"And truthfully?" She shrugged, a little vexed that he could make her stammer so easily. A thought from previously suddenly flew into her head.

"Kai?" she asked. He looked questioningly at her. "You know on the island - what is it?" Kai's face instantly returned to normal, from an expression that had seemed almost panicked.

"Nothing. Carry on."

"Well, you know when you were battling that spiky, red-haired freak?" Kai nodded. Hilary frowned. Was it just her, or had Kai looked almost relieved when she'd continued her sentence? "You know you were keeping Dranzer in its beyblade?" Another nod. "Did it hurt?" Kai leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling, breaking the eye contact between them. Hilary found herself blinking rapidly.

"Yes." he said at last. "It did." He paused, took another gulp of coffee. "Why are you here, anyway? Haven't you got school later on?" She nodded ruefully.

"What about you? Or have you left?" He shook his head.

"Before I came back here, I went this stuffy, pompous private thing. Grammar school, you know the kind of rubbish." She must have looked surprised, because he smirked. "What? Didn't think that I looked like the grammar school type?"

"No," she admitted truthfully, blushing. To distract herself, she quickly asked, "Have you done your GCSEs yet?"

"No. Wrong time of year." he informed her, with the faintest hint of superciliousness in his voice.

"What subjects are you taking?" Hilary asked, bristling slightly at his patronising tone.

"Core subjects of course, then Business Studies, Social Studies, French, Spanish and German. You?" She hesitated a second before answering, the strangeness of the situation finally hitting her.

She was sitting in Tyson's kitchen at half past three in the morning, fully dressed, and chatting with one of the sexiest boys she had ever laid eyes on. Oops, she shouldn't have thought that… And what was even odder was that he was paying attention to her, his grey eyes fixed on her with an intensity she had only ever seen him use while blading.

"Hilary?" His questioning voice broke her chain of thought. Which was probably a good thing... "Have you chosen yours yet? You're in, what, Year Nine?" She nodded, scrambling to pull her thoughts back on track.

"Yeah, we chose them a few weeks ago. I'm doing French, Drama, Textiles, History and…um…Religious Studies," she answered, hesitating over the last one.

"You religious?"

"Not really. It was the only other one I could consider doing."

"Oh." He had nearly finished his coffee, and, as she looked at his callused hands clasping the mug, she saw them tremble slightly. _Caffeine jitters_, she thought with a mental grin. _Even **he **isn't immune to them_. Feeling reckless, she took the plunge.

"Kai, when we were on the island…" She didn't quite dare meet his gaze. The kitchen was absolutely silent. She took a deep breath and continued. "I-I just wanted to say…thanks. Thanks for helping me out when the rocks fell."

"Don't worry about it." Their gazes met, identical, unsure smiles creeping onto their faces. "I…I guess I wanted to…" He trailed off, shaking his head helplessly and staring fixedly at the table.

"Well…that's good. Thanks again." He nodded shortly. His hands were shaking quite badly now, Hilary noticed distractedly, and he had clenched them into tight fists.

"I guess I…I wanted to protect you…" His voice was barely more than a whisper. Colour suffused his pale face and he looked away. Shame and self-disgust twisted his handsome features. "I apologise," he muttered stiffly. "This is so unlike me…"

"Thanks." she whispered. He looked up sharply. His gaze was tentative, fleeting, flicking away within seconds.

"Thanks for what?" he demanded, his voice unexpectedly loud. Timidly, Hilary reached out and touched one of his fists.

"For everything." she shrugged, giggling nervously. Neither of them moved for a full minute. Slowly, cautiously, his clenched fist relaxed under Hilary's hand, and their hands joined. Without speaking, Kai got up and moved chairs until they were sitting next to each other, their clasped hands still resting on the table.

Hilary gazed into Kai's eyes. They seemed so much larger closer up, the hard, flinty look that was usually there dissolving like salt dropped in water.

"Like I said, don't worry about it," Kai whispered. Leaning forwards he kissed her lightly on the lips.

"Okay…" Their lips met again, softly, tenderly. Kai looked down at her, his eyes hazy with a new emotion that Hilary had most definitely not seen before. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he leaned in again. This time, their lips parted easily, and they discovered pulling away was suddenly very unappealing.

_Why do I get the feeling I'm going to be seeing that look in his eyes a whole lot more? _Hilary thought, a satisfied grin creeping across her face.

* * *

Well? What did you think? I'm going to be doing a lot more oneshots,I think, so I need opinons! Please review! Thanks for reading! 


End file.
